"It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace"

Why even have a Bible reading plan?

OK, you have less than 3 days to choose a Bible reading plan. There are lots of them out there. The first question usually ask is “What plan for this year will I undertake?” But maybe you are thinking, “Why do I even need a plan?”

Here’s the short answer: “The all-perfect author, the Holy Spirit, could inspire nothing untrue, trivial, or degraded. Reading and studying Scripture is therefore an urgent necessity.”–Herman Bavnick via The Old Guys

Here’s the longer answer from Dan Phillips:

If you bumbled through 2011 without a plan, you really should adopt one. If you are a Christian and have never yet read through the entire Bible — which should be a perfect application of the word “inconceivable” — you really really should adopt a plan.

Why a plan? One is mindful of the possibly apocryphal story of the evangelist who was set upon by a critic, who announced, “Sir, I do not like your methods!” The man replied, “I am always glad to hear of a better approach. What is yours?” The critic stammered, “Why, I…I don’t have one.”

“I like mine better” was the response. And while pragmatism is a baneful worldview, there is something to be said for a touch of it once one has set on the needed goal within a God-centered worldview. Find the goal that pleases God, then figure out how to get there from here.